LON 
Jfhouglit by many that it was intended to burn it down ; 
but it was foon learned that the fire was accidental. The 
flames fpread rapidly. Several engines were procured, 
and played upon it; but it continued burning till, in a 
fhort time, the five upper towers were deftroyed, or fell 
over the eaftern fide of the Bridge: the lower ones were 
in a (fate little better, and fome part of the fubftruCture 
was much deteriorated. The fate of this ereftion was 
much regretted, as it was defervedly a favourite 5 and Iti 11 
more for the calamity by which it was attended, namely, 
the lofs of two lives; befides which, fire other fire-workers 
were much hurt. The accident is faid to have been oc- 
cafioned by the hurry of difcharging fome of the fireworks 5 
room was not left for a rocket-wheel to play, and the 
flame, burfting conftantly on one fpot, ignited the timber, 
and thus produced the calamity.—After the ceflation of 
the fireworks in Hyde Park, feveral accident* occurred : 
the limb of a tree broke down, by which a young woman 
who was Handing under had her thigh broken, and two 
young men their arms ; a rocket took off the calf of a 
gentleman’s leg. 
The three parks remained much in the fame ftate as on 
the day of Jubilee, for fome days after. In Hyde Park, the 
booths, (hows, gaming-tables, printing and copper-plate 
preffes, &c. amounted to four hundred : every day added 
to their number and attractions. The booth-keeper* were 
thrice ordered away on Saturday the 6th ; but they drew 
up a petition to remain till the 12th. They however re¬ 
ceived an order to quit at night, which they fet at de¬ 
fiance. On Sunday, the fair, with the exception of the 
fiiows, was continued. On Monday, the order from the 
fecretary of ftate was renewed ; and on Tuefday morning 
the magiftrates, with the police-officers, compelled obe¬ 
dience.—Still an opinion almolt univerfally prevailed, that 
on the regent’s birth-night the fireworks and illumina¬ 
tions would be repeated. Thoulands of people afleni- 
bled ; and, being difappointed, fome of them made a bon¬ 
fire of the palings and fentry-boxes which furrounded the 
Temple in the Green Park, and great fears were enter¬ 
tained left the Temple of Concord itfelf fliould be de¬ 
ftroyed, and thus Diicord be again let loofe in Europe. 
Horfe and foot guards arrived about two in the morning, 
and the multitude immediately difperfed. On the Mon¬ 
day following the workmen began to difmantle the Tem¬ 
ple; but the ffiell of it, (the paintings only being taken 
away,) and the royal booths alfo, were fold by auction in 
lots. The burnt pagoda has been fo far repaired as now 
to conlift of a fingle ftory, inftead of feven; and is pro¬ 
bably intended to remain. The bridge, we are told, is at 
any rate to be permanent, and is already open to the pub¬ 
lic: we have therefore given a reprefentation of it, with 
the pagoda in its original ftate. 
Here we cannot re lift the temptation of prefenting to 
the reader, from Philip de Comines, a ftiort account of 
a fete given at Paris in the fifteenth century, on the joyous 
occafion of the acceffion of Louis XI. to the crown. “ Louis 
had already been crowned at Rheims ; and, on the 31ft of 
Auguft, 14.61, his majefty fet out from an hotel named 
Les Porcherons, whiqh was in the fuburbs near the gate 
of St. Honore, in order to make his public entry into Pa¬ 
ris ; upon which the whole body of the clergy, nobility, 
and gentry, came out to pay their homage to him, and 
welcome him to their city. As the "king pafied through 
the gate of St. Dennis, he found near the_clnirch of St. 
Ladre (Lazarus) a herald mounted on horfeback and 
clothed in the city-livery, who prefented to him five ladies 
on the part of the city, richly drefled, and mounted on 
five fine horfes fumptuoufly accoutred with rich furniture, 
on which were embroidered the city-arms; and thefe five 
ladies were habited after a fort of a manner reprelenting 
the five letters of the word Paris ; and every one of them 
made a speech to the king, which was prepared for them 
before-hand. TheParifians on this occafion caufed a very 
fine (hip to be call: in filver, which was borne aloft upon 
men’s ftioulders; and, juft as the king: made, his entry 
Voi.. XIII. Np. 92.8. 
DON* ,569 
through the gate of St. Dennis, it was placed upon the 
draw-bridge near the faid gate, to reprefent the city-arms. 
In it w'ere placed three perfoBS reprefenting the three 
eftates of the kingdom ; in the ftern and poop fin two 
more perfonating Jultice and Equity; and out of the fcut- 
tle, which was formed in the fliape of a flower-de-luce, ifi- 
fued a king drefled in royal robes, and attended by two 
angels. A little farther, at the Fontaine du Ponceau, 
there were wild men that played the parts of gladiators 5 
and near them were placed three hand fome wenches rtarlc 
naked, reprefenting mermaids, fporting anti (ingrrig gay 
enlivening airs, which were humoured and accompanied 
with the melodious harmony of foft mulic. And, to com¬ 
fort and refrefh the people, there were feveral pipes in 
the faid fountain that ran milk, wine, and hippocras, of 
which every one drank what he pleafed; and a little be¬ 
low the fountain the paffion of our Saviour was reorefent- 
ed, as he was crucified between two thieves. At a little 
diftance from this, there were polled a band of men richly 
drefled, reprefenting hunters that had juft run down a 
flag; whofe death was accompanied with the melodious 
noife of dogs and horns. In the Rue de la Bc-ucherie there 
were large fcaffolds ereCted in the form of the Baftioti 
at Dieppe; and, when the king had palled by them, the 
Englilh who were within the Baftion were furioufly at¬ 
tacked by the king’s foldiers, taken priloners, and had all 
their throats cut. Oppofite to the gate of the Chatelet there 
was a fine appearance of perfons of quality; all the win¬ 
dows were hung with rich tapeftry, and the ftreets through 
which the king pafied were crowded with a prodigious 
number of people. In this pompous manner he proceeded 
to the church of Notre Dame; and, having performed his 
devotions to the Blefled Virgin, lie returned to his royal 
palace, where he had a fplendid and magnificent enter¬ 
tainment.” 
Palling now from St. James’s Park, through the Stable- 
yard, we enter Pall Mall, the feat of royalty, and un¬ 
doubtedly one of the nobleft ftreets in the metropolis. 
The firft objeft of attraclion we meet with is the Britilh 
Gallery of Paintings, in the rooms originally built by 
that liberal patron of the arts, alderman Boydell, un¬ 
der the denomination of the Shakefpeare Gallery, for 
the purpole of exhibiting the paintings, originals of 
the copper plates deftined to adorn his fplendid edi¬ 
tion of the works of our firft of dramatic poets. The 
group reprefenting Shakefpeare between Comedy and 
Tragedy, executed in ftone by the learned chifel of the 
late Mr. Bacon, remains ftill over the main entrance.for the 
admiration of every man of tafte. It is fimple, yet ele¬ 
gant ; and the attitudes of the figures, as well as the flow¬ 
ing llyle of their draperies, deferve every tribute of praife., 
—On the fame fide of Pall Mall we find two openings into 
St. James’s fquare, which has been lately, can we fay orna¬ 
mented ? by an equeftrian ftatue of William III, in which 
we fee very little to praife and much to reprove. Norfolk- 
houfe and feveral others are a greater ornament to this 
fquare than the ftatue. Near this fpot is St. James’s market. 
^ Lower down, in the Haymarket, is the begun, never 
to be finiffied, Doric front of the Opera-houfe.—On this 
fpot was built a houfe for the purpole of reprelenting Ita¬ 
lian operas, by fir John Vanburgh, of whofe tafte in archi¬ 
tecture we have many weighty proofs ftill remaining. It 
is curious that our indefatigable furveyor and generally- 
correCt annalift Pennant fliould have attributed the build¬ 
ing to lir Chriltopher Wren, w ho had not, nor could have, 
any thing to do with it. The fabric erected by Vanburgh 
flood till the raging demon that has fo often perfecuted 
this metropolis, the cruel element of fire, deftroyed it in. 
1789. Immediately after, the prefent edifice was erefted - 
but want of money bade the workman ceafe their labour, 
and the exterior was left as it is; a fort of upbraidingdif- 
grace to thofe who might, by a voluntary fubfcription of 
no great extent, have contributed to the adorning the front 
of a place where they fo often repair to indulge their fan¬ 
cies in the latter part of the evening. The interior of this 
3 £ theatre 
